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CNN Live Saturday

Class Ring Becomes Lucky Charm for WWII Soldier

Aired November 30, 2002 - 18:26   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: From Skokie, Illinois, an amazing story now from CNN's Josie Karp about Notre Dame Football, the Bataan Death March and a class ring that just may have kept a soldier alive through World War II.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSIE KARP, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mario Tonelli proudly put his college ring on his finger for the first time back in 1939 after graduating from Notre Dame. Today the 86 year old man with the sharp mind and the antique ring with the faded luster tell a remarkable life story.

What do you think of when you look at the ring?

MARIO TONELLI, FORMER NOTRE DAME FULLBACK: It was -- I've been a lucky guy -- really. I've been lucky all my life.

KARP: Tonelli was wearing the ring in the Philippines in April 1942. Was a 26 year old Army sergeant who had just surrendered to the Japanese.

Along with more than 70,000 other soldiers he was forced to walk more than 60 miles to a prisoner of war camp -- a journey that came be known as the Bataan Death March.

TONELLI: The first thing that I remember that impressed me and made me realize that we were in trouble -- in the distance I saw something way up in the air except I couldn't figure out what it was.

But as he came closer on a horse I realized what it was -- it was a head. He had it on a bamboo pole -- a head on a bamboo pole.

KARP: At one point during the march a Japanese soldier approached Tonelli drawn by his ring.

TONELLI: He grabbed my hand and said, "Give me the ring." And he started to pull on it.

KARP: When the soldier walked away with the ring Tonelli thought it was gone for good, but minutes later a Japanese officer came up to him, handed the ring back to the American and offered a stunning explanation.

TONELLI: He graduated the same year from Southern California.

KARP: He told you that? He told you that?

TONELLI: Yeah. And he said, "I remember you playing football and beating our team."

KARP: Before he was a soldier, Tonelli was a schoolboy football player from Chicago who went on to play fullback for Notre Dame.

In 1937 he had the game of his life at home against USC scoring the winning touchdown for the Irish in the final minutes.

TONELLI: The only thing I remember is trying to run, getting hit by people -- zigzagging. I knew it was something great as far as football was concerned.

KARP: He wouldn't know just how monumental it was as far as life was concerned until almost five years later.

Because of that football game Tonelli got his ring back and a glimmer of hope along with it.

Both were precious items with death all around him.

TONELLI: Everybody was sick with beriberi, dysentery. People were falling on the ground -- exhausted. The Japs would just shoot them or bayonet them and kick them. And we would just keep marching.

KARP: Miraculously Tonelli survived the march and 42 months as a prisoner of war. He was held first in the Philippines and then in Japan where his football past again surfaced when he was handed a prison uniform with the number 58.

TONELLI: Do you know what that was? That was my jersey number at Notre Dame that I had for four years.

KARP: How did you interpret that?

TONELLI: I said, "I'm going to make it."

KARP: The actual cap is in a museum in Chicago. The ring Tonelli intends some day to give to his daughter, so that the lucky charm stays in the family.

Josie Karp, CNN, Skokie, Illinois.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired November 30, 2002 - 18:26   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: From Skokie, Illinois, an amazing story now from CNN's Josie Karp about Notre Dame Football, the Bataan Death March and a class ring that just may have kept a soldier alive through World War II.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSIE KARP, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mario Tonelli proudly put his college ring on his finger for the first time back in 1939 after graduating from Notre Dame. Today the 86 year old man with the sharp mind and the antique ring with the faded luster tell a remarkable life story.

What do you think of when you look at the ring?

MARIO TONELLI, FORMER NOTRE DAME FULLBACK: It was -- I've been a lucky guy -- really. I've been lucky all my life.

KARP: Tonelli was wearing the ring in the Philippines in April 1942. Was a 26 year old Army sergeant who had just surrendered to the Japanese.

Along with more than 70,000 other soldiers he was forced to walk more than 60 miles to a prisoner of war camp -- a journey that came be known as the Bataan Death March.

TONELLI: The first thing that I remember that impressed me and made me realize that we were in trouble -- in the distance I saw something way up in the air except I couldn't figure out what it was.

But as he came closer on a horse I realized what it was -- it was a head. He had it on a bamboo pole -- a head on a bamboo pole.

KARP: At one point during the march a Japanese soldier approached Tonelli drawn by his ring.

TONELLI: He grabbed my hand and said, "Give me the ring." And he started to pull on it.

KARP: When the soldier walked away with the ring Tonelli thought it was gone for good, but minutes later a Japanese officer came up to him, handed the ring back to the American and offered a stunning explanation.

TONELLI: He graduated the same year from Southern California.

KARP: He told you that? He told you that?

TONELLI: Yeah. And he said, "I remember you playing football and beating our team."

KARP: Before he was a soldier, Tonelli was a schoolboy football player from Chicago who went on to play fullback for Notre Dame.

In 1937 he had the game of his life at home against USC scoring the winning touchdown for the Irish in the final minutes.

TONELLI: The only thing I remember is trying to run, getting hit by people -- zigzagging. I knew it was something great as far as football was concerned.

KARP: He wouldn't know just how monumental it was as far as life was concerned until almost five years later.

Because of that football game Tonelli got his ring back and a glimmer of hope along with it.

Both were precious items with death all around him.

TONELLI: Everybody was sick with beriberi, dysentery. People were falling on the ground -- exhausted. The Japs would just shoot them or bayonet them and kick them. And we would just keep marching.

KARP: Miraculously Tonelli survived the march and 42 months as a prisoner of war. He was held first in the Philippines and then in Japan where his football past again surfaced when he was handed a prison uniform with the number 58.

TONELLI: Do you know what that was? That was my jersey number at Notre Dame that I had for four years.

KARP: How did you interpret that?

TONELLI: I said, "I'm going to make it."

KARP: The actual cap is in a museum in Chicago. The ring Tonelli intends some day to give to his daughter, so that the lucky charm stays in the family.

Josie Karp, CNN, Skokie, Illinois.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com